How You Should Be Diluting Bleach For Cleaning Your Kitchen

Simplification can make cleaning and disinfecting your home a much easier and effective process. And one of the simplest but most powerful cleaners you can add to your arsenal of cleaning supplies is bleach. As Mary Gagliardi, known as "Dr. Laundry" at Clorox, told Martha Stewart, "Bleach isn't just for the washing machine. It can be used to clean the entire home, and it's very economical." That's right; bleach can be used outside of brightening those whites and removing unsightly grass stains. Bleach can make your whole home feel and smell clean. So, no need to feel sheepish about using this chemical. 

In fact, bleach could become the one-stop cleaning and disinfecting product you never knew you needed. It's really the perfect product to use to clean those heavy traffic areas of your home any time of the year, but especially during cold and flu season, when you want to keep surfaces as germ-free as possible. But if you plan to use bleach the next time you clean your kitchen or even your bathrooms, you need to know how to properly dilute it with water. And luckily, our friends at Kitchn and the CDC shared their tips and tricks to make the process easy and safe. 

When you're cleaning your kitchen with water and bleach, start with the doorknobs, appliance handles, drawer pulls, light switches, and pretty much anything that a person touches with their hands. 

The CDC shares that cleaning alone can remove most viruses. The health protection agency recommends using regular household bleach to clean and disinfect your kitchen. It also explains that if you are disinfecting countertops and plates, you want to use a mild ratio, using 1 gallon of water to 1 tablespoon of bleach. But before you spray your diluted bleach mixture onto anything, make certain you've first cleaned your surfaces with warm, soapy water. Once your surface is visibly clean, you can then disinfect it with the bleach-water mixture.

Additionally, if you're cleaning your kitchen floor and sink, the CDC recommends using 1 cup of bleach for every 5 gallons of water to get the job done. However, if you are cleaning and disinfecting your garbage cans, Martha Stewart recommends a stronger solution, using 1/2 cup of bleach mixed with 3/4 gallon of water. To get rid of mold on hard surfaces like countertops, the CDC says you will want to use a mixture of 1 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of water. Bleach is definitely an all-purpose cleaner that you should consider using to clean the kitchen.